The Pack A.D. “Tintype” 2007/2018 (limited edition reissue). 13 MC Music/Mint Records. Two-piece bluesy garage rock from Vancouver, Canada. I really love Pack A.D. – during the pandemic they had a decent sale of their back catalog via their Bandcamp and I scooped up several LP’s, including this one, that I’m just now getting around to listening to. Tintype is Pack A.D.’s debut LP and waaaayyy sparser than their most recent material. According to the reissue’s liner notes (written by Maya Miller, drums), she and guitarist/singer Becky Black had only been practicing together for a few months when they were asked to perform at a BBQ where they met someone wanting to record their album (13 MC Music = self-released) even though they had nothing prepared for either the BBQ or a record, so they did…as Maya quotes (and agrees with) a reviewer they “shrugged themselves into existence.”

Tintype has an early Black Keys/White Stripes vibe in that it’s aughts-era blues/garage rock played by just two musicians that can make a lot of noise. But it’s refreshingly female: Becky’s voice goes from soaring to growling in one line of lyric (“What’s Up There” – a tiny little track that punches hard) and swims in emotion (the slow-burn “Bang“). She has stated that Billie Holiday is a major influence and that shows in the best way. Despite the liner notes’ insistence that they barely knew how to play their instruments, Becky’s blues guitar is simple, classic and perfect; Maya’s drums are at times crashing and at others the lightest of touch (sometimes just a triangle. The whole song). Not surprisingly, my top tracks are the big-(blues)rockers: the album opener “Gold Rush,” the absolutely wild “This Terror,” and “Stray.”